


Good Night

by ThatNerdNextDoor23



Category: The Eldest Curses Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Lightwood-Banes Being a Family, M/M, based on art work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25603558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatNerdNextDoor23/pseuds/ThatNerdNextDoor23
Summary: When one's sons stay up way past bedtime, the best thing to get one's sons back to sleep are;French lullabies, andLas Mariposas.
Relationships: Alec Lightwood & Max Lightwood-Bane, Alec Lightwood & Rafael Lightwood-Bane, Magnus Bane & Alec Lightwood & Max Lightwood-Bane & Rafael Lightwood-Bane, Magnus Bane & Max Lightwood-Bane, Magnus Bane & Raphael Santiago, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 2
Kudos: 87





	Good Night

**Author's Note:**

> !!HOLD UP!!  
> I need you to know, that this piece is based on an artwork that you can find right here-   
> https://umkasandiary.tumblr.com/post/170043463038/good-night  
> I was just inspired by it and wanted to write a story based on it. I wrote it a couple of weeks ago on Tumblr, and decided to share it here as well! Thank you and please enjoy!!

Magnus had never thought of being a father. 

He had thought of being many, many things in his life.

A pirate, an artist, teacher, lover, musician, acrobat, healer, politician, soldier, coward, savior, cult leader.

He’d thought about them all, and some of them he became. (or, tried to, at least.) He had found that, of all things, he was a warlock best. 

So he would be Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn. Nothing else, and especially not a father. After all, how could he be a father, if he had no father of his own to show him how? 

But then, something changed. He had become a lover once more, and it was different than all the times before. This time, he had been loved back. True, unfiltered, unfaltering and ever growing love had returned to him. Magnus was immortal, and yet he was still surprised and taught every day. It wasn’t until he had found his Alec, that he learned that soulmates, were very much real. And he very much had one. 

He added _soulmate_ onto the list of things he had become in his long life. Shortly followed by husband and, the most surprising of all, father. 

Fatherhood was surprising, thrilling, terrifying, exhausting, daunting and new. Everything new was like that. The most surprising thing about fatherhood was how easily Magnus took to it. Like a fish in water. He didn’t know what he was doing half the time, that was true. But he learned very early on, that being a father, a parent, was simply another form of love. 

Magnus had always been very good at loving. He had loved many before. Some who loved him back, and many who didn’t. Magnus had always cared far too deeply and far too quickly. He cared and loved Downworlders and Shadowhunters and Mundanes alike. He cared and loved things that breathed, and things that did not, or had not, in a long time. 

So learning to love and care for a child, who he got to call his own, was not a hard thing for Magnus to do. 

The best part of it all, in his opinion, was that he was able to do it with Alec. His husband. Magnus had never had someone to call that, before. 

Sometimes Magnus would find himself simply staring at Alec. It didn’t matter what Alec was doing. Washing dishes, reading, getting dressed, or fighting actual demons. Magnus would find his eyes glued to Alec, and only Alec. The rest of the world would blur out of focus around him. Magnus would take in the way Alec’s dark hair fell into his face. Or the way his brilliant, blue eyes would narrow when he was thinking, and crinkle when he laughed.   
The way he stretched every morning when he woke up. How his body would relax whenever he was with Magnus. His shoulders, lose some of their tension, and his back would be a little less straight. Magnus loved to watch the way Alec lived. 

He was watching him that night, while Alec sat at his desk doing some paperwork. It had somehow become very late in the night. But Alec had sat down at his desk after dinner and hadn’t left since. Magnus lounged on the comfortable chair. The book he had been reading forgotten in his lap as he unashamedly took in Alec. His hand moved swiftly across the pages. Almost mechanically signing his name in black ink. Alec’s hair had spilled over his eyes, obscuring Magnus’s vision of his face. Though Magnus was sure he had that furrow between his brows as he read the next paper. 

He wanted nothing more than to reach out and push his hair back, and gently rub away that furrow. Maybe even kiss him. Magnus licked his lips, thinking about leaning over and doing just that, when Alec’s head suddenly shot up. Startled, Magnus jerked away, “What?” He asked, worried that something might be wrong. His magic was already searching through his wards, panicked that Alec might have heard someone break in. (They did live in Brooklyn, after all.) But his wards had not been crossed. “What is it?” He asked again.

Alec narrowed his eyes at the door to the office. “The boys are awake.” He said, turning to lift a brow at Magnus. Blame had fallen onto Magnus, because he had been the one to put the boys to bed that night. He had ushered Alec into the office and told him to get his work done so they could all go to the aquarium together tomorrow. Magnus had given Rafael and Max a good bubble bath full of laughter, (and bubbles on the ceiling, he wasn’t sure how Max had managed that.) and a long storytime. They had both fallen asleep at the end, in Max’s bed. So that was where Magnus had left them.

Magnus held his hands up, “They were asleep when I left,” he promised. Alec sighed, “Well, they’re awake now.” He rubbed at his temples, clearly exhausted by the evening's work. “I’ll take care of it,” Magnus said, gently. His hand reaching out and resting on Alec’s forearm, giving it a little squeeze. Alec looked up at him, smiling softly, “No,” whispered Alec. “I’ll come with you. I’m too tired to read another letter, anyway.” 

With one corner of his mouth quirking into a smile, Magnus stood, pulling Alec up with him. The paperwork and book were now forgotten on the desk, as they crept out of the office. Creeping down the hall, Magnus could just pick out hushed giggles drifting through the loft apartment. How Alec’s keen hearing heard it from behind the closed office door, Magnus had no idea. As they neared the door to Max's room, a quiet voice hissed and laughed, _“Shoosh, Maxy! They’ll hear you!”_

Alec shared a look with Magnus, his smile growing. Magnus knew how Alec adored Rafe’s nickname for his brother. He smiled everytime he heard it. Magnus suspected it was, or was similar, to Alec’s own nickname for his little brother. 

But Alec whipped the smile away, steeling his face into a stern expression as he suddenly thrust open the door. The giggles were caught off. Silence filling the space between them. Alec stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips and brow raised. “Why are you two awake?” Alec asked, and his voice had that scolding tone of a parent in it. 

Magnus leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms. Thankful that the darkness of the room covered the fact that his face was not stern at all like Alec’s. He always felt a little guilty, when he stepped back and let Alec deal with rules and punishments. He knew that Alec didn’t like being the responsible parent. But it took a lot for Magnus to get angry about anything. He didn’t like anger at all. Through his centuries he had found that anger led to nothing good. Mostly grudges and hate, and those things reminded him far too much of the people he didn't want to become. 

He could do any of the other parenting things. Sleepless nights, dirty diapers, cooking, bathtime, games, stories, lullabies. Those were all fine and good. But tantrums and rule breaking? Not his strong suit. He himself was a rulebreaker, it felt hypocritical to scold his kids for such things. But he did try, if only so Alec wouldn’t be the bad guy.

“It’s way past your bedtime,” Magnus did his best to match Alec’s tone. In the dim light drifting in from down the hall, Magnus could just make out the shapes of his sons. They both huddled on Max’s bed, the yellow covers tucked beneath them. Rafael scooted a little closely to Max. He still, sometimes, seemed nervous around Alec and Magnus. And it shattered their hearts to see him like that, every time. 

Alec’s voice became a bit softer as he said, “You have a fun day tomorrow, you need your rest.”

Max shuffled a little, “Not sleepy,” he declared. Then he frowned as he yawned immediately afterwards. Alec stepped into the room and came to sit on the edge of the bed on Max’s side. “No?” he asked. Both boys shook their heads. “Hmm,” Alec tapped his chin like he was thinking, “Would a lullaby help?” 

“YES!” Max yelled, and Rafe nodded adamantly. Alec’s laugh rumbled across the room. It seemed to call Magnus over, and he was not about to deny it. So he crossed the bedroom, to pile onto the twin sized bed with his boys. He was ever thankful for Rafe and Max’s small sizes as he sat criss crossed on the bed, his arm coming to wrap around Rafalel’s shoulders. 

Rafe leaned back against him immediately. His eyes blinking slowly and heavily. Of the two boys, Rafe was always the easiest to put to bed. He even took naps, voluntarily, after a hard day of playing. While Max took more convincing. “Lay down, blueberry,” coaxed Magnus. To his surprise, Max did. He layed back against the pillows, and Alec took his little, blue hand, in his considerably larger, calloused one. His other hand propped up behind Max’s head. Alec rested his face in his palm.

“Okay,” he whispered. “Are we ready?” Alec asked, looking at the three of them. Max murmured, “Mhmm,” But Rafe shifted around to look up at Magnus. His little, already sleepy face upturned to him. Magnus had the sudden urge to hold his son very close and never let go. _“Las mariposas, Bapa.”_ Rafe’s soft voice was barely loud enough to hear. Magnus smiled, leaning down to kiss Rafael's forehead. “Okay,” he whispered against the dark curls of hair. 

The truth was, Rafael was easy to put to bed, because Magnus knew the secret to do so. The secret, being, _Las mariposas._

_The butterflies._

Magnus waved his hand through the air, and a little orb of light appeared in his hand. Fluttering out from the orb, came a handful of glowing butterflies. They flew just out of reach from his son’s outstretched hands. They swirled around each other, leaving trails of sparkles in their wake. Rafe smiled, awe shining in his big, brown eyes. Magnus looked up to find Alec watching him. Even while Max oohed and awed in wonder next to him, Alec kept looking at Magnus. He had this strange, soft look in his eyes. 

It took a moment for Magnus to find his voice, “We’re ready now,” Alec blinked, then nodded. “Okay,” he cleared his throat, then began. His voice was low, and rumbled gently through his chest. The words tumbling through his mouth easily and clearly. It was a french lullaby, one Magnus had heard him sing a million times to get the boys to sleep. He’d even heard Maryse sing it to them, a few times. 

As Magnus watched, Rafael began to slump against him. Until he could no longer keep himself upright to watch the butterflies. Until he was curled against Magnus’s knee, and Magnus pulled the blanket up to cover him. The lullaby continued to flow out Alec’s mouth, and the butterflies fluttered around them. Even as Max’s eyes closed, and his chest came up and down, in slow, steady breaths. The dim light from the butterflies, cast a gentle glow over him. Lighting up his peach colored onesie dotted with little stars. 

It also lit up Alec’s face as he sang. And while Magnus felt Rafe’s breathing steady beneath his hand, he found himself watching Alec once more. He stared at the slit in his eyebrow. At the dark runes, stark against his pale skin. At the way his black hair had grown out a little, falling over his face. Magnus stared, with a lover's gaze, at the way Alec’s hideous gray sweater hung off his shoulder and clung to his arms.

Magnus thought again, about how he did not expect to become a husband. He had not expected to love someone so much. He had not expected to become a father. He had not expected that his heart would be big enough for it all.Those thoughts seemed a little silly, now. Because Magnus had always found it easy to love. It was, very easy indeed, to love, and be loved, by his family. Even if it was, unexpected. 

Alec’s voice grew quieter as he reached the end of the lullaby, 

_“Pour un bouquet de roses,  
Que je lui refusai,  
...Il why a longtemps que je t'aime,  
Jamais je ne t'oublierai...”_

His voice lowered until it was gone, and a gentle silence filled the room. For a long moment, they only sat there, staring at their sons as they slept. Asleep, they were peaceful, innocent, pure. Awake, not so much. So their fathers took great joy in enjoying this moment. 

“I love you,” The words left Magnus’s mouth before he could think.

His gaze still on his sons, he felt, rather than saw, the smile that spread across Alec’s face. “I love you, too,” he said in a hushed tone. 

Then, slowly, Magnus let his butterflies drift back into his palm. Careful not to disturb the sleeping boys, Alec and Magnus slid out of the bed. The boys shifted but did not wake. As Alec tiptoed out of the room silently, Magnus bent down to kiss each of his babies softly. His heart swelling with more love and, incandescent happiness than he thought possible, he whispered, “Good night.” 

Magnus Bane had never thought of being a father. 

But he thanked that blasted Angel, that he had.


End file.
